What style of art did Romans develop?

Answer 1

During the Republican period Roman sculpture was realistic portraiture sculpture (busts). These were busts of prominent people which detailed the signs of age. Age and its wisdom were seen as the hallmarks of statesmanship. With rule by emperors, the emperors favoured idealised full body statues modelled on Greek Hellenistic sculptures which depicted Hellenistic rulers as youthful. The vigour of youth was now seen as a mark of statesmanship. The Romans also started reproducing the sculpture of mythological themes or of gods of Greek sculptors, both classical and Hellenistic, and modelling their own on these.

The Romans also adopted the architectural orders of the Greeks (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian) for columns and used them for their temples and porticoes which were modelled in their whole structure on those of the Greeks. They also developed composite orders which combined elements of two orders. This, as well as the development in sculpture, has led to the coining of the term Greco-Roman art. However, it has to be noted that for other buildings the Romans developed their own architectural system based on their extensive use of the arch and the vault, which the Greeks hardly used. If arches and vaults involved the use of columns, they used their mentioned orders.

The Romans were also masters of mosaic and fresco art. They also produced excellent jewellery, silverware and pottery.